President Goodluck Jonathan has declared that it is time for Nigeria to ”dismantle the idol of exclusivity” and discard issues that focus on state of origin rather citizens of nation and this change will be carried out with the ongoing review of the nation’s constitution.

Delivering the President’s remark at the 13th Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe lecture which focused on developing ethnic policy for national integration to address the issue of indigenes versus settlers, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Prof Viola Adaku Onwuliri, who represented Dr. Jonathan stated emphatically that “things just have to change.”

”In the plan for nation building, the joy for all patriots is for all citizens to enjoy the rights of citizenship” the President stated, as he acknowledged that ”there is a dangerous growth of indigeneship versus settlership crises” and ”these are enemies of Nigeria which we must aggressively not tolerate” he added.

”There is hardly any ethnic group in Nigeria which does not have a sizeable amount of its people residing outside of their ethnic communities” the President noted as he explained how is his native Ijaw tribe (whom he claimed are predominantly fish eaters) have been taught how to eat and source fresh beef by Fulani herdsmen that have settled in their communities.

”This strong cosmopolitan is the future of Nigeria” the President affirmed as he declared that ethnicity must give way to citizenship as granted by rights of the Nigerian Constitution, and this I will defend with all my power as President” he declared.

“We should glory in our diversity because it is our strength” the President added.

He also admitted the fears of communities that, they might be swamped by others but he explained that every effort will be made to ensure that their culture is preserved and that “where the laws are ambiguous, we will address that with the ongoing review constitution.”

This is coming as hundreds of lives are lost and property destroyed in recent inter-communal clashes in cities and states across the country such as Plateau, Benue, Nassarawa and Lagos.


http://www.channelstv.com/home/2012/11/30/state-of-origin-must-give-way-to-citizenship-jonathan-2/?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter

That would be good if and only if Nigeria remains in existence for long and btw, the ethnicity virus is eaten deep in Nigeria that it will only take the intervention of a selfless leader.

Gej is clueless of the difference between the two and what they mean.

So I can move to Bayelsa and claim admission based on ELDS, Claim job for Oyel company and even get militant allowance

Dream Dead on Arrival. No way.

I very much doubt that Mr. President was ever aware of the content of this speech.
Is Mr. President's native community not one those ND islands? How did the Fulanis get their cows there? I was in Wilberforce island, where Amasoma & Ogobiri are located in 2001, I did not see any Fulani with cow there.
All these ministers&aides may just be misrepresenting GEJ, knowing his faults.

if u ask me, i will suggest that jonathan should stop talking as many nigerians are not interested in his flexible words. he changes like the wind. he says what he doesn't do. why did he sack two igbo pdp chairmen in succession without any valuable reasons? why is his vice from the north?why is his state getting more money from the oil revenue than others? why are the militants getting armnesty and the kidnappers and boko haram are not getting? why did his wife left aso rock to germany to get treatment while his brother left bayelsa to die in aso rock? nigeria was not one, is not one and will never be one.

This is wrong in my opinion, state of origin, ethnicity and state of residence with some rights should all exist together. We might just be ignoring the issues our founding fathers ignored that later turned problems for us today allover again.

dayokanu: So I can move to Bayelsa and claim admission based on ELDS, Claim job for Oyel company and even get militant allowance

hehehehe, you don't even need to change your name to alamiesegha....

dayokanu: So I can move to Bayelsa and claim admission based on ELDS, Claim job for Oyel company and even get militant allowance

Negro_Ntns: Gej is clueless of the difference between the two and what they mean.

An indigene is someone whose ancestors are from a particular place but has never set eyes or been to that place e.g Shymex. Yet someone who was born and lived in that place for over 50 years is not recognized.

I truely support this and I know it will favour the most dugged tribe more.

It is a good idea. You've got one vote.

Mowire: I very much doubt that Mr. President was ever aware of the content of this speech.
Is Mr. President's native community not one those ND islands? How did the Fulanis get their cows there? I was in Wilberforce island, where Amasoma & Ogobiri are located in 2001, I did not see any Fulani with cow there.
All these ministers&aides may just be misrepresenting GEJ, knowing his faults.

2001 that almost 12yrs ago dude

Yet another thing this administration si known for.. Yarning dust..

Some interesting questions.

If I ask you "What is your state of origin", what does that mean? Does it mean the state you originated from? How do we determine the state you originated from?

Can your state of origin be different from your father's state of origin? If yes, why? If no, why?

Can your state of origin be different from your mother's state of origin? If yes, why? If no, why?

Can your state of origin be different from your state of birth? If yes, why? If no, why?

What about state of residence? What rights and duties do residents of a state (which is not their state of origin) have?



Could it be, as a little girl told her sister many years ago, "You were born in the village, while I was born in the hospital"?

What is your state of origin? What does it mean?

[b]Trust the average Nigerian to copy and paste strategy already used and mostly failed in the UK & America. Of course a nation tends to be more progressive and its citizen become more tolerant when there is a good mix of ethnics and race but the big question is, what makes up the mix? The Europeans prefer to mix with themselves cos they largely have similarities (culture, religion, aspirations, etc)- they don't like to mix with Asians and Africans cos of the opposite.

As an Igbo man, i don't have any damn thing to learn from Ibadan man or fulani nama breeder. I can learn from my Calabar and Akwaibom ladies how to cook and others - from Rivers, Delta, etc. I can grant permanent residence status to people from Europe, Asia, Americas, and other parts of Africa once i notice they share my values and are hygiene conscious. We want our country and that is all we ask for. Give the desert to Hausa and the West to Tinubu them and we would not mind at all. Stop this hopeless experiment now cos it is a faulty one. BIAFRA my BIAFRA. [/b]

Nigerians r despirate,lyf is hard down here,Nigerians nid quality education,we nid 2 b in a good state of mind,b4 they start tellin us abt citizenship, this man no rilly gat work.

what we want is breakup, which one is citizenship must replace state of origin? igbo will always look igbo, so will hausa and yoruba. time to start moving back to region of origin abeg den by 2014 bye bye nigeria!!!

useless republic of nigeria indeed

God bless JEG, I hope Jonah Jang has heard and understood. Indigeneship is nothing but coincedence of place of birth.

My people of plateau,so i can now become a governor of bayelsa without anyone disturbing me?

Tusky44:

As an Igbo man, i don't have any damn thing to learn from Ibadan man or fulani nama breeder. I can learn from my Calabar and Akwaibom ladies how to cook and others - from Rivers, Delta, etc. I can grant permanent residence status to people from Europe, Asia, Americas, and other parts of Africa once i notice they share my values and are hygiene conscious. We want our country and that is all we ask for. Give the desert to Hausa and the West to Tinubu them and we would not mind at all. Stop this hopeless experiment now cos it is a faulty one. BIAFRA my BIAFRA.

And who told you that the people of the Niger Delta want to be part of Biafra your Biafra? You need the oil, abi? Well, forget it! You can go and import crude oil from Sokoto. The ND has no need for thee.

Oga Jona,dat won't work because dere's no way hausa/fulani pple will mix up with pple of d southern states without breedin terrorism.

this should be done concurrently n most importantly with the abrogation of the federal character principle,which was formulated to favour some dunce head thiefing politicians who have got nothing to offer d people.
a person should be appointed/selected/elected to a particular post based on merit,track records and what they can offer,not on d basis of region,ethnic or political connections...

Dis is the panacea 4another Civil War in Nigeria. How can a Hausa man use d quota or slot of a south-south state 2get into d federal civil service, armed forces or d paramilitary- just in d name of residing in the south-south? Or a Hausa man wanting to become a councilor or LGA Chairman in a south-south state? Dis simply reminds me of d recurrent Birom-Hausa/Fulani crisis of Jos-city.

1025: if u ask me, i will suggest that jonathan should stop talking as many nigerians are not interested in his flexible words. he changes like the wind. he says what he doesn't do. why did he sack two igbo pdp chairmen in succession without any valuable reasons? why is his vice from the north?why is his state getting more money from the oil revenue than others? why are the militants getting armnesty and the kidnappers and boko haram are not getting? why did his wife left aso rock to germany to get treatment while his brother left bayelsa to die in aso rock? nigeria was not one, is not one and will never be one.

Are you saying even in his family, they are not one ... different and prefential treatment? Gosh. Caught in the act!

MostIncredible.DFirst:
Dis is the panacea 4another Civil War in Nigeria. How can a Hausa man use d quota or slot of a south-south state 2get into d federal civil service, armed forces or d paramilitary- just in d name of residing in the south-south? Or a Hausa man wanting to become a councilor or LGA Chairman in a south-south state ? Dis simply reminds me of d recurrent Birom-Hausa/Fulani crisis of Jos-city.

but south-south, and south-east men and women are becoming councillors and LG chairmen, and even commissioners in south-west, lagos in particular. does that mean we don't know what we are doing in the south west?

busoye19:

http://www.channelstv.com/home/2012/11/30/state-of-origin-must-give-way-to-citizenship-jonathan-2/?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter

Good intention, dumb idea. Nooffense to Johanthan but is he even thinking when he decided to set this policy. If this was a moderately tolerable nation then yeah the possibility of it working is good but this is Nigeria. I wish someone informs this man, just because something worked for USA, UK and other western nation does not mean it would work for Nigeria.

Bravo GEJ. Thats statemanship from the president. citizenship is the way forward.

Mowire: I very much doubt that Mr. President was ever aware of the content of this speech.
Is Mr. President's native community not one those ND islands? How did the Fulanis get their cows there? I was in Wilberforce island, where Amasoma & Ogobiri are located in 2001, I did not see any Fulani with cow there.
All these ministers&aides may just be misrepresenting GEJ, knowing his faults.

what the man means is plain and simply,we must try sometime to see the positive in his actions and words.he means we should do away with discrimination and be each other brother.so by replacing ethnicity with citizenship is a step in the right direction to achieving that goal.isnt that what we all want?

dabossman:

And who told you that the people of the Niger Delta want to be part of Biafra your Biafra? You need the oil, abi? Well, forget it! You can go and import crude oil from Sokoto. The ND has no need for thee.

shut up.d ibos dnt need we nija deltans to survive as a nation.dy hav everytn dat we cliam we have.nd we re comfortable wit d ibos dan a yoruba vampire ,bt if ure a nija deltan typing ds rubish.i pity u ure useles nd myopic as a persn wake up